Method of and device for feeding weft thread into the gripper of gripper looms



V. SVATY April 25, 1967 METHOD OF AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING WEFT THREAD INTO THE GRIPPER OF GRIPPER LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1' Filed March 5, 1965 INVENTOR- /1 BY a6 MM/w MM April 25, 1967 v. SVATY 3,315,709

METHOD OF AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING WEFT THREAD INTO THE GRIPPER OF GRIPPER LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 5, 1965 INVENTOR V. SVATY METHOD OF AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING WEFT THREAD INTO April 25, 1967 THE GRIPPER OF GRIPPER LOOMS Filed March 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENIOR. V6412 a5, 14/ M1 Apnl 25, 1967 v. SVATY 3,315,709

METHOD OF AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING WEFT THREAD INTO THE GRIPPER OF GRIPPER LOOMS Filed March 5, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent Oflice 3,315,709 Patented Apr. 25, 1967 3,315,709 METHOD OF AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING WEFT THREAD INTO THE GRIPPER F GRIPPER LOOMS Vladimir Svaty, Liberec, Czechoslovakia, assignor to Elitex, Sdruzeni podniku textilniho strojirenstvi, Liberec, Czechoslovakia Filed Mar. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 437,506 Claims priority, application Czechoslovakia, Mar. 10, 1964, 1,367/64 8 Claims. (Cl. 139-125) The present invention is concerned with a simple method and a device for feeding the weft thread end into a unilateral or bilateral gripper in gripper looms from a weft thread supply situated on one or on both sides of the shed, in order to catch the weft thread in the gripper and to transfer it into the shed.

Several methods of feeding weft thread into the grippers of gripper looms are hitherto known, the best of them working in such a way, that the trimmed thread end is fed from the supply bobbin by a special mechanism into the gripper tongues at a moment, at which the gripper is at rest, or in that way that the gripper during its way through the shed grips at full speed the end of said weft thread. Both these methods have several advantages as well as disadvantages.

A device for performing the first method is, above all, very complicated in its construction and therefore difficult to be produced, as the weft thread, getting to a place as near as possible to the fabric during the slay, must be gripped at this point at first by a special tongue device, then trimmed and at last transferred together with the whole tongue device by means of further complicated mechanisms into such a position that will assure its reliable feeding into the opened collet of the gripper mechanism.

It is necessary to open the collet of the gripper, to push the tongue device into the open collet, to close the collet, to open the tongue device of the feeding mechanism and to transfer again the whole mechanism to the fabric selvedge, in order to catch the further draw-in weft thread. This complicated feeding mechanisms, performing a very complicated motion, must be present in such a number that corresponds to the number of weft thread differing from each other by size or colours.

A great disadvantage of the device for performing the second method is due to the fact that the weft thread enters the gripping mechanism of the gripper at the moment of the beginning of the weft insertion, i.e. at a time, in which its speed is at a maximum, so that only a very short time interval can be used for gripping the weft end, and for that reason this procedure cannot be checked and is, therefore, not fully guaranteed.

Said disadvantages of the said two methods of feeding weft thread into the gripper are removed by the method of and the device for feeding weft thread according to the present invention, by a principally completely new system, which is not only simpler in construction, but also much more reliable in its work, using a unilateral simple gripper with only one gripping mechanism, said gripper being the object of the Czechoslovak Patent No. 105,- 156, application 1,355/64 and USA. Patent 3,144,884.

The present invention is based upon that the weft thread is gripped by the gripper in the position of the slay of the batten before it is trimmed from the fabric, whereby the connection between the weft supply and the fabric is interrupted, the whole feeding being performed by a simple lever with a guiding eye. The actual weft feeding between the projection and the pressing spring of the gripper is made by the relative motion of said lever and said gripper, whereby for that feeding a rotary motion of the gripper through an angle of is used between the individual weft insertions, the weft thread being simultaneously wound around the projection of the gripper, this contributing to the reliability of gripping the Weft end in the gripper.

Further advantages and characteristic features of the present invention can be seen from the following specification and the accompanying drawings showing the following:

FIG. 1a diagrammatic view of the feeding device in front elevation at the moment of movement of the gripper into the shuttle box,

FIG. 2a diagrammatic view of the gripper and the feeding lever at the moment of feeding weft into the pp FIGS. 3 to 6-diagra-mmatic views of the main working mechanisms in front elevation in the individual phases of feeding the weft into the gripper,

FIGS. 7 to 9diagrammati-c views of the gripper, the batten and the fabric in the main work phases in plan view.

On the batten 1 of the machine, reed 2 is fastened in the usual manner and on its both sides rotatable shuttle boxes are situated onbatten 1, said shuttle boxes being the object of the Czechoslovak patent application No. PV 1,355/64 and USA. application Ser. No. 554,257 filed May 4, 1966, a unilateral gripper 5 (being the object of Czechoslovak Patent No. 105,156 and Czechoslovak patent application PV 1,355/ 64 and of USA. Patent 3,144,884) engaging groove 4 in the shuttle boxes 3 at the end of its insertion path. This gripper is substantially formed by a hollow body, which has on one side a tip 6 and on the other side a projection 7, against which bears the prestressed flat spring 8. The shuttle boxes 3 are turned after each weft insertion by gripper 5 through an angle of 180, by which gripper 5 is brought into a new weft inserting position. The shuttle boxes 3 and the gripper 5 perform a swinging motion together with batten 1, in the same way as in shuttle looms.

On the stationary side walls 9 of the machine frame a simple feeding lever 11 is situated on each end of the machine on the pin 10, said lever being equipped with a guiding eyelet 12, through which passes the weft thread 13, which is drawn off a cross wound bobbin 14, which is also situated on the machine frame. On one side of the feeding lever 11, a cutting device 15 of commonly known type is arranged on pin 10, said cutting device being controlled in any commonly known, not shown way from a known control mechanism through tie rod 16.

On the side Walls 9 there are further arranged two arm swinging levers 18 respectively titlta ble on a pin 17 and controlled by tie rod 19, each of said levers being equipped with a two-arm needle 20 for unthreading, said needle being pivotally mounted on pivot 21, and a spring 22 connected to one end of each needle tends to turn the latter in clockwise direction around said pivot 21. The two-armed unthreading needle can act simultaneously as a weft stop motion, as its upper arm 23 can cooperate in the usual way with the contacts 24 and 25 of a known stop motion mechanism.

The shed is built in a usual way from a system of upper warp threads 26 and lower Warp threads 27, the fabric 28 being produced being tentered on its selvedges by a usual clip 29.

The weft thread 13, being drawn off the cross wound bobbin 14 is Ebraked by brake 30 of any known type.

The device according to the present invention works as follows:

Gripper 5 is inserted through the shed e.g. in a known, not shown fro-m the right side to the left, weft yarn 13' being drawn from the cross-wound bobbin 14' (FIG. 7),

which is situated at the right side of the loom, said weftv thread being gripped between the projection 7 and the pre-stressed flat spring 8, and wound around projection 7, so that it is gripped in the gripper in a way absolutely reliable (FIG. 1) in spite of the small dimensions of gripper 5 and a relatively weak spring 8.

At the moment, when the gripper 5 arrives in the groove 4 of the left rotatable shuttle box 3 (FIG. 1), batten 1 is situated in its rear position.

It is necessary to say that during the preceding weft insertion, which was performed by the gripper 5 from the left side to the right, weft thread I13 was drawn through the shed from the cross wound bobbin 14 on the left side, as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 7, said weft thread 13 being trimmed on the right end and woven into the fabric 28 in full width, whereas its left end passes through the guiding eyelet 12 of the feeding lever 11 over brake 30 to the cross wound bobbin 14.

The two-armed unthreading needle 20, which can serve as weft stop motion, is situated in that working phase in front of weft thread 13' between the fabric 28 and the gripper 5.

At this moment, batten 1 begins to move from its rear position into the front position, ie the beatgup position, in which reed 2 will push the inserted weft thread 13' to the fill of fabric 28 (FIG. 8); if weft 13 is correctly inserted during this movement, the part situated between fabric 8 and the gripping. of projection 7 and spring 8 of gripper 5, touches the longer bottom arm of the two armed unthreading needle 20, and begins to turn said needle, after batten 1 has moved into the beat-up position, around pin 21 against the pull of spring 22 in the counterclockwise direction, whereby the upper arm 23 is brought out of the possible contact with the contacts 24 and 25 of the stop motion mechanism. In the case that weft thread 113 was not correctly inserted, this turning motion of the unthreading needle 20 around pin 21 is not brought about the unthreading needle 20 around pin 21, and the upper arm 23 touches at the following turning of the two-armed lever 18 about pin 17, which movement is brought about by the known movement of tie rod 19, contact 24 of the stop motion mechanism, said mechanism bringing the loom to a stop in a known way.

Immediately before the batten 1 arrives in its final beat-up position (FIG. 8), spring 8 of gripper 5 touches the end of the feeding lever 11 (FIG. 3), and spring 8 is pushed off projection 7 and on the other hand the left end of the last but one woven-in Weft 13 is shifted over projection 7, as the guiding eyelet 12 of the feeding lever 11 is situated at the initial phase above the end of projection 7 of gripper 5.

In the final beat-up position of batten 1 the flat spring 8 is pushed off projection 7, whereby the influence of spring 22 the long lower arm of the unthreading needle 20 unthreads the end of weft thread 13', said end having been hitherto situated between spring 8 and projection 7, is gripped between them and wound around projection 7, as can be seen in FIG. 4.

In the following moment the actual feeding of weft thread 13 between spring 8 and projection 7 of gripper 5 takes place, substantially by relative motion of the feeding lever 11 and gripper 5.

In FIG. 2, an embodiment by way of example is shown, in which gripper 5 is stationary during the feeding procedure, whereas the feeding lever 11 swings about pin in the direction of S whereby the weft thread 13, being hitherto held in fabric 28, is shifted behind projection 7 before the pushed-off spring 8.

Much more advantageously, however, this feeding can be performed by making use of the turning motion of gripper 5 through 180 in the rotatable shuttle box 3, this being an object of the Czechoslovak patent application No. 1,355/ 64; and of U.S.A. application Ser. No. 554,257 in that case, the feeding lever 11 remains stationary and feeding of the weft thread 13 )between projection 7 and pushed-off spring 8 is performed at the start of the rotary motion of gripper 5, as can be seen in FIG. 4. Simultaneously, with the beginning of the rotary motion of gripper 5, batten 1 begins to move from its beat-up position (FIG. 8) to its rear position (FIG. 9), so that in the following moment the feeding lever 11]. stops acting upon spring 8, said spring being not pushed off projection 7 any more, so that spring 8 returns by its own prestress to projection 7, gripping thereby weft thread 13- between itself and projection 7 of gripper 5. As soon as this gripping takes place, the trimming device 15 cuts off in a known way the woven in part of weft thread 13 on the fabric selvedge, as seen in FIG. 4, from a part of the gripper between spring 8 and projection 7 of gripper 5 and over the guiding eyelet 12 of feeding lever 11 leading towards brake 30 and cross-wound bobbin 14.

In the position of the device as shown in FIG. 1 the gripper shuttle 5 has already carried the weft thread 13 through the shed and the batten 1 occupies the position short of the beatup position. Now, the batten 1 starts to move int-o the beat-up position, that is towards the feeding lever 11, and at the end of this motion the reed 2 beats up the weft thread 13' into the fell of the fabric. Since the warp threads 26 and 27 have changed their relative positions before the beat up took place, the newly inserted weft thread 13 is sufficiently secured to the crossed warp threads, so that at the time at which the free end of the weft thread 13' is released from the nio between the projection 7 and the free end of the flat spring 8 of the gripper shutter 5, it cannot retract into the shed by the action of the tension on the yarn.

The cutter 15 severs the end of the weft thread 13 at a portion of the latter between the weft fabric selvedge, -as viewed in FIG. 1 and the guide eye 12 of the feeding lever 11.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, this severing takes place only after the feeding lever has introduced a portion of the weft thread 13 located between the guide eye 12 of the lever 11 and the cutter, into the gripper shuttle 5, that is in the gripping mechanism of the latter formed by the projection 7 and the free end of the pre-tensioned flat spring 8. At the moment of the out-off the severed portion of the thread 13, which now forms the leading end of thenext weft thread to be inserted, is secured in the gripper shuttle 5, whereas the remaining portion of the previously inserted weft thread is securely held in the fabric 28.

During the motion of batten 1 into the rear position in FIG. 9 the rotary movement of gripper 5 with the rotatable shuttle box 3 for is carried out, until in the rear position of batten 1, gripper 5 is turned for 180, as shown in FIG. 5

At that moment, another weft insertion with. gripper 5 takes place, from the left to the right, a crossing of the two warp thread systems 26 and 27 having taken place before and a new shed having been formed, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The initial phase of the insertion of gripper 5 into the new shed is shown in FIG. 6. From which can be seen, that during this insertion the weft thread 13 being inserted is wound around projection 7 of gripper 5, said winding increasing substantially the security of gripping the weft thread 13 in gripper -5, so that a gripper 5 and spring 8 of minimum dimensions and force may be used.

After the arrival of gripper 5 in the rotatable shuttle box 3 on the right side of the machine the whole procedure is repeated in an absolutely identical way.

I claim:

1. In a weaving loom for weaving a fabric, in combination, support means; an elongated batten mounted on said support means movable between a rear position and a beat up position; a shuttle having a gripping mechanism at one end and adapted to be moved between opposite end positions at opposite selvedges of the fabric; a pair of turnable shuttle boxes respectively mounted on said batten in the regions of opposite ends of the latter and respectively adapted to receive said shuttle in the end positions thereof; a pair of weft thread supply bobbins; a pair of turnable guide lever means mounted on said support means for respectively guiding a portion of a weft-thread from the respective supply bobbin into the gripping mechanism of said shuttle when the latter is located in the respective shuttle box, each of said lever means being arranged in a position so as to open during the turning thereof in one direction said gripping mechanism and to introduce said portion of said weft thread into said opened gripping mechanism; means for moving said lever means in said one and in the opposite direction, said gripping mechanism closing when said lever means is turned in said opposite direction; cutting means between each lever means and the selvedge of the fabric facing the respective lever means for cutting said portion of said weft thread after the latter has been gripped by said gripping mechanism; and removing means for removing the free end of the weft thread, after the latter has been beaten up by said batten, during opening of said gripping mechanism.

2. In a loom as set forth in claim 1, wherein said gripping mechanism includes a projection on said one end of said shuttle and a leaf spring fixed at one end thereof to said shuttle in the region of the other end of the latter and being biased so that the free end of said leaf spring is urged against said projection, whereby a weft thread may be gripped between said projection and said free end of said spring, said lever means engaging during turning thereof in said one direction said leaf spring so as to form a gap between said free end of said leaf spring and said projection into which said portion of said weft thread is introduced by said lever means.

3. In a loom "as set forth in claim 2, wherein said lever means is turnable in a plane between a turning axis of the respective shuttle box and the selvedge facing the respective shuttle box so that during turning of the shuttle box after the weft thread portion has been gripped by the gripping mechanism of the shuttle located in the respective shuttle box, the gripped end of said weft thread will be wound about said projection.

4. In a loom as set forth in claim 1, wherein said removing means includes a needle turnably mounted on said support means and located in a rest position to one side of a weft thread passing from one to the other side of the loom, and spring means biased to maintain said needle in said rest position, said needle being engaged and turned against the bias of said spring means and the tension of the latter increased when said Weft thread is beaten up by said batten, whereby said gripped end of said weft thread is pulled out by said needle from said gripping mechanism when the latter is opened as the tensioned spring means return said needle to said rest position.

5. In a loom as set forth in claim 4 and including contact means cooperating with said needle for stopping the loom when said needle is not turned by said weft thread during beating up of the latter.

6. In a weaving loom for weaving a fabric, in combination, a shuttle having a forward end and a trailing end and adapted to be moved between opposite end (positions on opposite sides of said fabric and having a gripping mechanism located in the region of said trailing end; a pair of turnable shuttle supports respectively mounted on opposite sides of said fabric, adapted to receive said shuttle in the respective end position thereof and each adapted for turning with a shuttle therein between a receiving position in which the shuttle is located in said turnable shuttle support with the gripping mechanism adjacent said fabric and a discharging position with the gripping mechanism remote said fabric; a pair of weft thread supply bobbins located on opposite sides of said fabric; guide means located each side of said fabric and associated with a respective one of said turnable shuttle supports for respectively guiding a portion of a Weft thread from the respective supply bobbin into the gripping mechanism of said shuttle When said shuttle is located in said associated turnable shuttle support with its gripping mechanism adjacent said fabric; and cutting means operating in conjunction with each of said guide means for cutting the thread after the same has been gripped by the gripping mechanism.

7. In a weaving loom as defined in claim 6, and including an elongated batten movable between a rear position and a beat up position, said pair of turnable shuttle supports being respectively mounted on substantially the opposite ends of said batten.

8. In a weaving loom as defined in claim 7, and including removing means for removing the free end of a weft thread, after the latter has been beaten up by said batten, during opening of said gripping mechanism.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,564,603 12/1925 Martin 139-126 2,152,255 3/1939 Hefti 139126 3,144,884 8/1964 Svaty 139-125 3,163,184 12/1964 Chenpin 139-125 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,249,877 11/ 1960 France.

677,255 6/ 1939 Germany.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

H, S. JAUDON, Assistant Examiner. 

6. IN A WEAVING LOOM FOR WEAVING AFABRIC, IN COMBINATION, A SHUTTLE HAVING A FORWARD END AND ATRAILING END AND ADAPTED TO BE MOVED BETWEEN OPPOSITE END POSITIONS ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID FABRIC AND HAVING A GRIPPING MECHANISM LOCATED IN THE REGION OF SAID TRAILING END; A PAIR OF TURNABLE SHUTTLE SUPPORTS RESPECTIVELY MOUNTED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID FABRIC, ADAPTED TO RECEIVE SAID SHUTTLE IN THE RESPECTIVE END POSITION THEREOF AND EACH ADAPTED FOR TURNING WITH A SHUTTLE THEREIN BETWEEN A RECEIVING POSITION IN WHICH THE SHUTTLE IS LOCATED IN SAID TURNABLE SHUTTLE SUPPORT WITH THE GRIPPING MECHANISM ADJACENT SAID FABRIC AND A DISCHARGING POSITION WITH THE GRIPPING MECHANISM REMOTE SAID FABRIC; A PAIR OF WEFT THREAD SUPPLY BOBBINS LOCATED ON EACH SIDE OF SAID OF SAID FABRIC; GUIDE MEANS LOCATED EACH SIDE OF SAID FABRIC AND ASSOCITED WITH A RESPECTIVE ONE OF SAID TURNABLE SHUTTLE SUPPORTS FOR RESPECTIVELY GUIDING A PORTION OF A WEFT THREAD FROM THE RESPECTIVE SUPPLY BOBBIN INTO THE GRIPPING MECHANISM OF SAID SHUTTLE WHEN SAID SHUTTLE IS LOCATED IN SAID ASSOCIATED TURNABLE SHUTTLE SUPPORT WITH ITS GRIPPING MECHANISM ADJACENT SAID FABRIC; AND CUTTING MEANS OPERTING IN CONJUNCTION WITH EACH OF SAID GUIDE MEANS FOR CUTTING THE THREAD AFTER THE SAME HAS BEEN GRIPPED BY THE GRIPPING MECHANISM. 